


Coruscant Crisis

by ilyena_sylph, Merfilly



Series: Changing Fate [13]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Jedi Apprentice Series - Jude Watson & Dave Wolverton, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Force Visions, Gen, Minor Character Death, Palpatine made a mistake, poor obi-wan losing people
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-13
Updated: 2016-05-13
Packaged: 2018-06-08 04:29:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6839110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilyena_sylph/pseuds/ilyena_sylph, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Assassinations, kidnappings, and violence for all!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coruscant Crisis

Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Anakin all stood before the Council, listening as the events were relayed to them. News had come to them on Naboo as they were readying to leave that several assassinations had been carried out against prominent Senators pursuing peaceful negotiations.

Horace Vancil had been one such, Chommell sector's Senator, and they had been the ones to inform Queen Amidala. Her grief had been heartfelt, and they had brought back, of all people, Jar Jar Binks, to hold the seat until proper elections could be held.

"Initial blame for the attacks fell on the clone troopers," Plo Koon said. "However, a squadron that had gone with Jedi Knight Reeft had been attacked and their bodies not recovered, raising suspicion."

Obi-Wan went stiff, worried for his friend, and Plo Koon's face turned to him. Wordlessly, regret was conveyed, and Obi-Wan felt another cut against his life to know another of his dear friends had been killed. Anakin and Qui-Gon both buoyed him through their bonds, even as he released the initial pain into the Force so he could continue.

"The attempt on Bail Organa was decidedly stopped and his forces overcame the person in clone trooper armor," Mace Windu continued. "The assassin was revealed to be a Changeling, one Zam Wesell, a bounty hunter by trade. This threw all suspicions on the clones out, and now we are trying to trace her last transactions in hopes of discovering her employer."

"What do we do next, Honored Masters?" Qui-Gon asked.

"We are going to ask Knight Kenobi to utilize his gift at blending into the lower sectors to see if he can discover a lead within the bounty hunters or smugglers on who ordered the assassinations," Plo Koon said. "We are given to understand it will be difficult for him to go completely out of communication with us."

Anakin most carefully did not smile, but he also planned to slip a tracer into something Obi-Wan would be carrying. Just to be on the safe side, he told himself. Nice of the Council to acknowledge the bond, even in such a sideways fashion.

"I should be able to do that," Obi-Wan said calmly.

"As to you and your Padawan, Master Jinn, I am going to ask you to both become a presence in the Senate."

Plo Koon's words made a cold chill go over Anakin, but he held himself still. It did not need to be said that they had come to the point of actively using him as bait. His eyes went to Kit Fisto, recently elevated when Even Piell opted to step down from the Council and return to Lannik, helping hold the peace in that area as much as he could, negotiating to keep the planets close to it firmly in the Republic. Kit gave him an encouraging nod, and he held on to the fact that he had learned much about shielding. 

Qui-Gon nodded once, taking a breath. He could feel Anakin steadying himself, feel his confidence, and that made it easier to agree. "Of course, Master Koon." 

He still disliked the idea, but he could not deny that Anakin seemed to have a great lure for their Sith foe, and if they could just manipulate him into showing his true self... this trouble would be ended, and he could start about the business the Jedi _should_ be on, rather than the business the Senate wanted. 

"May the Force be with us all, my fellow Jedi, as we try to end this before more lives are lost," Plo Koon intoned. There was much work to be done, as the planets that had been invaded were suffering and needed what resources the Republic could bring to their aid. The most difficult mission was now on the team of three. If they could find and maneuver all the pieces properly, the rest of the issues would merely be containment and clean-up, most likely.

Obi-Wan considered his options for disappearing; the bounty hunter persona he had used before his first trip to Geonosis should still be available to him. It would mean cosmetics; he didn't have time to grow his beard in properly. He was worried about Anakin, but also had faith in both his little brother and Qui-Gon to meet their end of events well.

Qui-Gon bowed to the Council, glanced to Anakin to bring him in closer, and left, knowing a dismissal when he heard one -- and even fairly pleased about it. 

Now... how to put them both into the Senate building without making it obvious they were baiting a trap with his Padawan? 

+++++

Anakin smiled as Jar Jar did the best he could, keeping his motions small and restrained like Rabé and Eirtaé had taught him. He looked pretty regal, actually, in Gungan formal robes, and he was listening more than talking. 

Qui-Gon, despite his lack of love for Senatorial proceedings, was performing the role of Consular again, having volunteered himself to help the interim Senator for the Chommell Sector. No one thought anything of it; Qui-Gon had once been a familiar face in the Senate, as Chancellor Valorum and he had maintained a working relationship. Where a Master went, so too did the Padawan, explaining Anakin's presence at his side.

Only, young men did tend to get bored, and during a particularly intense debate, he shifted around too much, distracting Qui-Gon briefly. Irritably, the Master Jedi flicked his fingers in dismissal at his Padawan, setting Anakin to escaping the dry, boring procedures around him.

//Be careful, my Padawan,// floated through the training bond, in direct opposition to appearances.

//Always, Master,// Anakin promised, and he meant it, as he went to explore the lower levels, where people milled and spoke and recorded the procedures. He was his usual curious self, and charming to one and all who he spoke with, a pattern he would keep for however long they needed to run this charade.

+++++

Anakin slowly became aware that the variable pitched sounds he was hearing were those of a Muun, but he could make out nothing further. His whole head was covered with a cloth sack of some kind, not so thick that he could not breathe. Around his throat was a collar… and the Force was not answering his reach for it, telling him just what that was. His hands were in binders, and even his feet had been shackled.

"He'll be delivered safely." The words were in Basic, accented, and the voice seemed familiar. Anakin tried to make his head wrap around the familiarity, but he still felt like there was bantha fuzz between his ears, not a brain. "Just make sure my credits are in my account."

More sounds from the Muun, something similar to binary, but Anakin couldn't make them out either before a hypodermic pressed into his skin and he knew nothing else.

+++++

To say Qui-Gon was holding his control by the tail-end shred of his will was not to understate the case. His Padawan had suddenly gone blank to him, on their third day with the Senate, when he had only visually checked the young man minutes before hand.

Half a day of searching, of the Council reviewing the surveillance had turned up nothing more than Anakin helping an aide who seemed to be ill and then all traces of him vanished as the pair stepped into a spot that the monitoring droids had not been able to see. Qui-Gon had searched the passage they had used and come up with nothing.

And he still could not feel Anakin, causing his heart to grow colder with every passing moment. The kidnapping of a Jedi was not an offense that could go unreported, but in all honesty, the Security Forces were muddying the investigation more than helping. The aide Anakin had helped was found… poisoned and discarded in a lower level. The one clue to be had there was a saberdart, now in Qui-Gon's possession.

The Archives were not being particularly helpful with identifying its origin, which was now why Qui-Gon was in Kina Ha's presence, hoping for answers.

"Elder," he said, far too upset to not lean into the formality of address. "I hold but slim hope that you can help me, but you have seen many things, and the Archives have failed me on identifying where this saberdart may have come from. Is it familiar to you?"

She lifted the dart to her eye level... and her small mouth went very thin, her eyes darkening instantly. "This is Kaminoan weaponry, young one. 

"How did you come to be in possession of it, Qui-Gon? What has happened?" 

Qui-Gon's eyes went narrow. Why Kaminoan? Was this another attempt to frame a clone? Or -- 

There were more than the clones on Kamino, though they had yet to meet Boba Fett's 'father' on their visits there. Bant had not mentioned him in her reports to the Council, either. However, he'd been asked a question.

"Anakin, my Padawan, has been abducted, from the Senate itself, in the middle of a session. This was found from the body of the last being seen on the recordings with him."

Kina Ha made a low noise, a susurration of displeasure, and she shook her head slightly. "This is ill news, Qui-Gon. Ill news indeed. 

"And he is being kept from your reach," she said, though it was not at all a question. "That... is worse. I had not heard even rumor of one of those devices in centuries... or it is one of the Myrkr creatures, but how could one survive off the planet?" 

"Mrykr?" Qui-Gon asked. "I fear he has been both sedated and placed in a suppression collar; we've run into those a few times. I say both, because Anakin is a mechanical genius; if anyone could find a way out of one, it would be him."

If he was correct, and it was the bounty hunter that was the template for the clone troopers, how was he going to get this traced back to Palpatine? He didn't even consider it was anyone else. Only the Chancellor had reason to stoop this low.

Kina Ha sighed, shaking her head slightly in that Kaminoan gesture of exasperation, "Ah. They're failing to inform even the Masters again. What is the second name of the Makashi form?" 

"The Way of the Ysalamiri?" Qui-Gon repeated, doing his level best to not get impatient, even as he wondered how this had bearing on his search for his Padawan.

"Thank you. I had misplaced the name of the creatures in my old age," Kina Ha said with a slight shake of her head, amusement at herself in the Force. "The ysalamiri of Myrkr repel any use of the Force, any connection to it. 

"It is a profoundly distressing experience." 

"It would be," Qui-Gon said, disturbed by that. "Thank you, Elder, for the information. It gives me a lead, one that may help Obi-Wan, if I can get in touch with him." He bowed his head to her.

"You are most welcome. I would offer to assist... but I am entirely too noticeable, even here on Coruscant. I will, however, attempt to find blank spaces in the force. If there is, somehow, an ysalamir on the planet, I should be able to find its bubble." 

Qui-Gon gave her a truly grateful smile for that, then bowed and went to begin contacting Obi-Wan in his deep cover.

Kina Ha watched him go, then closed her eyes and sank into mediation. Where was the boy? 

+++

Obi-Wan put his comm away, then took a moment to calm himself. The absolute stillness in his bond to Anakin had been frightening, to say the least. Hearing Qui-Gon's careful words explaining that Anakin had been abducted had only solidified the cold in his soul.

Was this the downside of attachments? The fear that brought such anger? Obi-Wan guarded himself from the darkness in those emotions, and reached out to center fully. Now, he would take up the hunt, find Jango Fett, and ask his questions. This would take all of his skill working the underworld of Coruscant, and he hoped the bounty hunter was still present.

He hoped he would be able to negotiate with the man, an avowed Jedi enemy, for the sake of Anakin's sense of kinship with the boy, Boba, on Kamino.

Qui-Gon was going to attempt to more directly observe Palpatine's movements, on the off-chance that threw them a clue, but that plan only served to add to the levels of caution in Obi-Wan's heart. He knew, all too intimately, how far Qui-Gon would go for one he loved.

Which meant he had to get their Padawan back safely... before that happened. 

+++ 

It was his observation of the Supreme Chancellor that finally gave Qui-Gon Jinn a clue how to attack this, how to _do_ something to get his Padawan back. The Vice Chancellor of the Senate seemed to be firmly glued to the Chancellor's side at almost every moment... and he remembered how Amedda had helped to undermine and evict his friend, Finis Valorum, from office. 

Palpatine might be untouchable yet, and as a Sith likely had myriad defenses... but he had been around the Chagrian for years, and knew the sense of his mind well. He was not a terribly brave being, nor a bold one. Qui-Gon had never thought him terribly corrupt... so possibly he could be reasoned with. Reasoned with... or, if it came to it, terrified into cooperation. He hated the thought, but he was so very, very finished with this. 

He left the Senate Chambers while they were still in session and headed for the office of the Vice Chancellor to let himself in. He could wait as long as it took, with an objective in sight. 

Mas Amedda was busier than ever as things continued to spiral out of control. His neat planning and tidy organization being used to foment the chaos occasionally cut across his orderly wishes, but the end goal… ahh, that would be beautiful. The Republic would be firmly controlled, none of this squabbling and endless debate, but firm direction and procedures followed to the letter!

He had suffered through yet another disorderly day, with the pacifists crying out for justice for those of their numbers that had been sacrificed on the altar of order. The outer systems had yelled them down, demanding protection now, not later, against the encroachment of the droid invasions on several outlying worlds. Soon, soon, surely it would be time to push all the pieces into place, and the Supreme Chancellor would solidify his hold. The hints that it would come with the removal of the meddlesome Jedi made him almost smile as he entered his office.

Qui-Gon Jinn, Jedi Master, was sitting on a carefully cleared section of his desk, and made no move to rise, as he stepped into the inner chamber. 

That… was not the kind of surprise Mas appreciated ever. He felt his heart clench, and he made a very disapproving face for a moment before addressing the man.

"Master Jinn, to what do I owe this visit?"

Fear, rippling and intent, in the Force, and Qui-Gon smiled, knowing it was slow and sharp, as he watched the Chagrian, utterly focused on his open mind, as much as the cast of his features. "You have always struck me as an upstanding citizen, Mas Amedda, no matter how much I have often disagree with your decisions. Which makes me wonder, very much, why you were so afraid to see me sitting here. 

"Today, on the other hand, I am very certain I know exactly why." 

Mas made a contemptuous sound at that accusation. "Master Jinn, I assure you that my startlement was only that I am not in the habit of having unsolicited, unannounced guests already inside my office. These are dangerous times, and such intrusions should be taken as … threatening," he said, mastering his voice and face behind the studious political acumen he was so capable of.

"There is a difference between startlement and fear," Qui-Gon replied, staying exactly where he had seated himself, looking across the distance between them, "Vice Chair Amedda. 

"And it is about those very 'dangerous times' that I am here. So tell me... what has made it worth it to you to serve a Sith?" 

"A Sith? What is that, Master Jinn?" Mas Amedda asked, even as those cool eyes made him reconsider his decisions, just for the ice in them. Palpatine was cold, a completely different manner of creature. This coldness looking at him was that of the deep waters, with crushing force waiting to steal the life from whatever strayed into them. "The dangers of the galaxy are firmly weighted between the chaos of our Republic's inability to meet the threat there, and the alliance of nefarious purposes against it.

"After all, just recently, have we not seen the dangers of speaking against the wishes of the masses, in the tragic loss of the voice of several sectors suing for peace?" He hoped his voice conveyed the right amount of promise to bring that death down on this Jedi, as he stood his ground.

"Come now, Vice Chair, you are an educated man," Qui-Gon replied, utterly unafraid of the attempt at a threat, "and must recall the wars fought between justice and tyranny, between Jedi and Sith. 

"And yes. We have seen loss and tragedy, grief and pain... and currently, Mas Amedda, my Padawan is held in the balance. I have spent years seeking tangible proof of what every Jedi Master of the Council already knows and could simply act upon if we chose -- that the greatest enemy of our Republic currently sits in its highest office... but now my child has been stolen, and I am finished being patient.

"Decide, now, if you wish to help the Republic... or fall with him." 

Mas Amedda felt his heart tighten again, and his skin crawl. The Jedi knew? If they acted, without everything in place, what would that do to his precious timetables and planning? The chaos of the planned war was merely the birthing pains of something greater, but if the Jedi acted, it would sunder all allegiances, and make it all too likely that the ploy with the Separatists would become reality.

He looked again at the man before him, and felt a distinct heavy realization that Master Jinn would practice his trademark final negotiations if the boy was not returned to him.

Why had the Chancellor been so insistent! That young Jedi was worthless in the grand scheme of things, a chaotic power all his own, based on the exploits through his training years!

"You will find no tangible proof," he finally said. "And then the galaxy would fall into many segments, ending the Republic for all time, bringing back the darkest age of war between systems, were your Order to act. Would you truly do such, for the sake of one life?"

Qui-Gon felt himself smile again, still slow and still sharp, that terror and the thoughts of timetables and plans and Separatists loud as screams in his mind, and answered. "Not for the sake of one life, Mas Amedda... but for the sake of all life, because life under the dominion of a Sith is only a living nightmare, _yes_. Better a scattered and disorganized galaxy, but one that lives free, than one broken and ravaged under that dominion.

"Anakin is simply the... crest of the wave of reasons." 

This man would do that. He would break everything. There was no way for Mas to get past him to alert the guards, and he knew that Qui-Gon Jinn could hold the door shut with the Force, that unquantifiable, terrifying sorcery of the Jedi. The cards were fully in Qui-Gon's hands, and that made Mas face a decision. Die now, because this Jedi was on the edge of being pushed too far, no matter how calm his voice was, or die when Palpatine learned of the betrayal?

"If I were to entertain the thought of what you suggest, Master Jinn, what assurance do I have in any of this? It is a dangerous world we live in, and a boy's life, the fate of the galaxy are all such hypothetical things to a man like myself."

Qui-Gon tipped his head, just slightly, and said, his tone deliberately calm and contemplative. "You think very loudly when you are under stress, sir, and several of those thoughts scream your guilt. 

"Despite that, if you will help me in exposing the wielder of the Dark Side of the Force for what he is, and removing him from power... the Jedi Order will defend you." 

He would rather see Mas Amedda tried for treason and executed, far rather, but with the chance of a true schism within the Republic, of every sector taking to violence against the others... one despicable being's survival was a price he would -- unwillingly -- pay. 

If Mas Amedda could have one thing in his perfect galaxy, it would be to have every Force user removed from it. Yet, for anything of his vision to stand, he would have to cooperate. "Prove it, then, for I will not speak to you in this place, only to have you leave me at the mercy of those who might take exception."

He could offer up the boy's location, perhaps, trying not to actually envision the retreat they'd sent him to, as a chance to give the Jedi concrete proof. Then, he would do what he always did, by surviving, and making power flow in orderly measures.

"Of course, Vice Chair," Qui-Gon agreed, nodding to him even as he heard the thought that meant Amedda knew where his Padawan was. "It has been a trying few days for everyone, I think no-one would be surprised if you decided to make an early evening of it...?" 

He left the desk then, coming to the Chagrian's side in the next heartbeat. "And I would be pleased to accompany you anywhere you wish." 

"How kind of you," Mas Amedda said in neutral tones. He was not going to react to that… unnaturalness! "I'm certain, were you to be called away, one of your brethren would be interested in further educating me on the intricacies of these Sith you mentioned?" He was not going to be left vulnerable, either. He thought he had one place that was very much his own, and that Palpatine did not know of. Exposing it to the Jedi was a necessary evil at this point.

"I have every faith that would be so, and in fact, would insist upon it," Qui-Gon agreed. Mas entrusted himself to this plan, and hoped to see the other side of it.

+++++

Apparently Jango Fett was one of those bounty hunters with a big enough name that no one wanted to cough up his location, but at the same time, it was difficult for his presence to not be noticed. 

Obi-Wan knew this was going to blow his cover, but at this point, learning where Anakin might be was the more important part of the scenario, especially if he could broker a deal with the man to get him away from the Sith payroll.

He'd used his contacts, stressed them to the point of possibly losing a few, and employed Jedi Mind Tricks when he had to, sharpening people's recall.

He was thankful to the Force that the man seemed to still be on planet, even as he wondered who the next target was. There was no other reason for the man to still be here, after all.

He made his way to the seedy landing pad where he'd been told to look for an interesting ship, his senses fully on guard, and thankful for the mismatched plastoid and durasteel armor he had on for once.

Jango Fett was not given to staying in one place past the end of a job... but he had a sense that the winds were changing, that the client that had kept him in credits, luxury, and -- most important of all -- given him a son who would surpass him had finally made a mistake. He didn't care, but given the warning, he was searching for other employment. 

With Jedi on Kamino constantly, he couldn't stay much longer, let alone leave Boba there, so he had to find something that would still let him protect his young son. Thus far, nothing had suited him -- and now there was movement just off his landing pad. No-one he recognized, not in that gear... He watched the monitor for a few moments, then decided that he very definitely had a visitor. He put on his helmet, then, and went to go see what in the kriff was going on. 

Obi-Wan studied the ship, intrigued by its design. It was distinctly a Firespray, but quite modified if he was remembering correctly. It amused him, on some level, that a ship primarily found in the Correction Forces would now be in the use of a bounty hunter. Then again, one reason the hunters were so tolerated was their ability to catch what the Corrective Forces couldn't.

He did not approach too closely, his eyes fixed on where he thought the hatch was. When it opened, he made no threatening gestures, just waited until the man was close enough to speak easily.

"Jango Fett? I'd like to talk with you a moment, quietly."

Jango shifted his weight slightly, watching the stranger and feeling unease run up his spine, but a request to talk wasn't an uncommon thing, really. "You found me," he agreed, "and all right. I wasn't leaving yet, so sure, you can talk." 

Obi-Wan walked closer, confident, but hands wide enough to be non-threatening. "We found your calling card on a recent disposal," he said, apologizing in his mind for the callous terminology, "and I represent parties eager to make a recovery. Not asking anything covered in your contract, Jango Fett, but if the credits are in the account, surely a piece of information could be purchased now?

"After all, the previous employers couldn't fear much to make such a bold move, right?"

Would the brass just to ask fall flat or spark something? Was Obi-Wan going to need to reveal more? All he cared about was getting Anakin safe at this point.

"I don't leave calling cards," Jango replied, torn between insult and amusement, and a little paranoia about what could have pointed someone (and was this a Jedi, then, or only one of their assorted minions?) towards him, "so who or whatever's pointed you my way must have sent you on a wild bantha chase, stranger. 

"But I am a businessman, and you're looking for something. Make me an offer, and maybe I can help." 

"All I want is where a package might have been dropped off, no other questions, no entanglements," Obi-Wan said. He regretted the death of the aide that had been found. Letting the killer walk away was setting roughly on his nerves. But they needed Anakin back, preferably with proof to be had in the rescue that Palpatine was behind the abduction. Justice sometimes had harsh trade-offs, and the chance to get proof on Palpatine was too high to push this to a fight. "A not quite small package, one might say it was a newer model for associates of mine?"

"Assuming I knew what you meant, stranger," Jango replied, watching the other thoughtfully, "or could figure it out... I still haven't heard what's in it for me. You did say purchase, after all."

"I've credits," Obi-Wan said, trying to get a good feel for this man. "And prospects for a profitable string of jobs away from, let's say, interested and possibly irritated parties on both sides." That was one good thing of having been undercover when the kidnapping happened; his cover identity had picked up feelers for a good contract toward the Rim, which he could pass on. It wasn't like he ever would have taken Black Sun up on the idea of assassinations against their rival organization.

"...well. Now you're talking," Jango replied, nodding slightly, tapping his fingers against his thigh for a moment. This might get ugly... but that one of the Jedi or their folk had found him whispered unpleasant things in the back of his mind. "...so if I had heard an address where some unusual things were happening, and gave it to you...?" 

"I'd turn over this bag, that just happens to have credits and credentials for meeting a new employer," Obi-Wan offered easily enough. "And think it a satisfying way to help a fellow out while keeping certain others from being, let's say, roughshod in their own searching."

He'd never thought to meet anyone from the Temple that had any kind of honor or sense... but that seemed pretty even. Assuming, of course, that the bag actually had what he said in it. He nodded once more, small motion, and gave up the address. Not as though it mattered to him, really. 

Obi-Wan unclipped the pouch he was carrying and passed it over, committing that address to memory fervently. "Pleasure doing business," he said, before backing away. Anakin needed him, and Qui-Gon as well. Before things got worse.

Jango watched him go for a few strides, quickly checked the bag, and got himself back aboard his ship to get off Coruscant. 

++++

While Obi-Wan had tried to contact Qui-Gon, he did not wait for a response. He knew how focused his partner could become in a mission, when a life was at stake. He made his way instead to the address.

As he arrived, though, he felt a strong yet cold Force disturbance already there… and after a moment, recognized it as Qui-Gon. Not for the first time in his life, he worried a little over the elder man's particular way of reacting to threats against his chosen connections, but Obi-Wan wasn't feeling very charitable either.

Anakin had better be unharmed, or things could get dicey.

Qui-Gon had watched the door for more than an hour before he saw movement, a person dressed to fit in but who was far too clean to actually belong, come to the door. As the last lock had unlatched, he had moved, racing with all of his speed for it, and making it inside before it could seal shut again. One hard blow had dropped the Koorivar in its tracks, and he dragged the unconscious form out of sight before he cast his senses out, learning where the others in this place might be. 

Obi-Wan scanned for a way to enter, not liking the odds of getting in without triggering an alarm… and then he started to smile. Qui-Gon must already be inside, which meant Obi-Wan could be the distraction.

//Here. Tell me when to be loud.// He sent that down the bond firmly, flickers of the plan showing him drawing attention off Qui-Gon's escape with their Padawan.

Qui-Gon blinked once, startled as his beloved's voice rippled in his mind... but that suited very, very well. //I will,// he agreed. //You'll have to tell me how you got here, later.// 

There were multiple people inside with him, and some of them were becoming alarmed. He could not sense Anakin, even now, but the alarm.was confirmation -- not that he'd needed it. Mas Amedda's nerve had broken in their journey, and he had answered almost entirely freely. He left his lightsaber at his belt, not wanting to kill if he did not have to, and headed for the highest concentration of minds. 

A security room, door open with monitors and beings human and otherwise (and panicking, as he had disappeared from their sight again). His Padawan, bound and unconscious, was on one screen, and his smile turned savage as he spoke. "You all know kidnapping is a cap - " 

One of the humans shot at him -- idiotic, at this range -- and he had his lightsaber in hand and ricocheting the bolt back before he finished his word, " -- ital crime, right?"

"If he gets out of here, we are all dead!" the man that seemed to be most in charge snapped out, blaster in hand to deal with the Jedi. One of the guards, a woman with a scar over half her face, activated an electro-staff and advanced on him. The words of the leader seemed to energize the others, and Qui-Gon felt them unify in a desire to kill him out of fear.

They knew their employer would have no mercy.

"You don't have to do this," Qui-Gon told them, taking a step back to buy himself more room to move, alert to the fact that there were others in the house, at least five more. "We can protect you." 

They were not listening, their minds closed with aggression and fear, and he sighed as the leader tried shooting him. He put the bolt back into the man's throat and let himself fall into the ease of combat, engaging the woman with the staff. "Just work _with_ me." 

She gave him a short bark of laughter. "You can't even protect your own," she told him, using the staff to engage his lightsaber, trying to tie him down long enough for someone to get a good shot. "You're insane if you think any of us would ever risk ourselves to such flimsy promises!"

Her comrade was edging away from Qui-Gon's field of vision, not yet raising his blaster, relying on Jedi Honor by not obviously being a threat. If he could just get the right angle while she took on that lightsaber…

"Oh, yes, and he's doing so excellently at keeping his actions secret?" Qui-Gon retorted, locking his lightsaber with her staff to buy himself a moment to shove the one thinking about shooting him into the wall behind him, hard enough to knock him unconscious. It took only another heartbeat to flick his lightsaber off and crack the woman in the face with the hilt in his hand, while she was stumbling and off balance from the sudden lack of resistance. Four down, six moving -- and one of them was thinking loudly of Anakin. 

Time to follow that one. 

Prad Zhaal knew they stood little chance against a Jedi. He had to get to the prisoner, get him out of the house while his comrades slowed the Jedi. Only then would his Master be happy. If he could prove his worth, save the prize, maybe his Master would reward him, raise him up from being merely a servant and guard. That was his sole thought as he slipped to the hidden chamber, already mapping his way out. 

He had the concealed door open and was just about to step inside when the unmistakable sound of a lightsaber's ignition rang out just behind his neck. "I wouldn't." 

"No no no!!!" Prad's hand went to his blaster, trying to draw and turn and fire in one, as absolute blind panic filled his mind. The imagery of seeing someone… close?... being choked by an invisible force was clear in Prad's mind as he attacked the Jedi.

Qui-Gon took the blaster out of his hand with the Force and kicked a knee out from under him, pinning him in place with the Force more than the foot on his back. "Don't die for him," he coaxed, "just stop and let me help you. He's finished." 

"He will kill us all! He's killed so many!" Prad blathered, half-sobbing and completely hysterical. "You do not know his power!" The memory of deaths he had witnessed, some quick, but many not, crowded his mind. 

Inside the room, there was a slight motion, maybe a groan, as the prisoner fought against the drugs in his system in response to the voices. Prad shrieked and struggled, trying to get free, to do whatever it took to save himself.

"Anakin, I'm here," Qui-Gon called into the room, looking down at the hysterical being thrashing and sobbing on the floor under his hold. He pitied the frightened person, could understand the fear of the Dark Side, and he had no wish to kill those who were only servants. He took a breath, focused, and tried to put the hysterical being to sleep. Jar Jar had been as frightened, once, and to his relief, it took. 

Three swift slashes of his lightsaber -- no, four, he went after the floor as well -- wrecked any possibility of being trapped in the hidden room with Anakin, and he crossed to the bed to get his Padawan free. Suppression collar first, of course.

Anakin could hear his Master's voice, but he was still blind because of his eyes being covered and the Force being taken from him. He had tensed, but -- he trusted in his ears. Qui-Gon's voice was the bizarre blend of utter calm and tense worry that never made sense to the Council. The breathing was the pattern of control used for combat. The scent, too, was familiar, both of the cloth and the light sweat of exertion, exuding the essence of a diet heavy in tea and fruits. 

"Master," he said, accepting this was no trick, even if the Force wasn't there to touch, to let him have the bond's solid support.

"Lie still, my Padawan," Qui-Gon told him, as he rearranged his lightsaber in his hand to put it through the collar's lock, a careful shift of it slicing from top to bottom of the despicable thing, repeated on the other side, so that a yank of the Force could remove it. "And let me get the rest of those." 

The assorted shackles were as easy to deal with -- easier, actually, as the chains between them were easy to sever -- and Anakin was instantly trying to move. 

//Beloved,// he sent across the bond, //draw them out for us?// 

There was a wordless assent as Obi-Wan put his plan into place, using small explosives out of his pouches to 'attack' the residence. They were mostly noise and smoke, but with the assault noises, the security inside had no choice but act to handle the perceived attack, certain they could stop the invader from leaving.

Anakin felt the rush of the Force inside him with something that bordered on bliss and pain alike after having lost it for … however long he'd been out. Some kind of poison that immobilized him had been used at first, one that still had him feeling weak. However, he needed to reassure his Master he was fine.

"I thought it would be a few more years, Master, before I heard your lightsaber that close to my ears," he said as he shoved the blindfold off to see the most welcome face on the planet looking at him.

Anakin's voice was rough, weak, but his impudent brat -- well, the younger one -- was obviously fine below the mistreatment. Qui-Gon snorted, shaking his head, and used his off hand to tug lightly on the braid hanging from his right temple. "And you're still going to be waiting on that," he replied, smiling his relief at his Padawan. Though really... Qui-Gon knew it was probably not that much longer. 

"Honest assessment, Ani. How clouded are you still?" 

Anakin touched the Force, knew he wouldn't be doing anything with fine control. More worrying, his lightsaber was nowhere in his range of reach, which completely infuriated him. "I can push, use the speed probably, but nothing fine. And my lightsaber is missing," he growled. He'd put a lot of effort in this one, as he usually did, and hated having lost it.

"Of course it is," Qui-Gon agreed, wry and dark, and nodded. That was better than he'd feared. "All right. Then we're getting out of here." 

He laid his fingers on Anakin's skin to strengthen the bond, locked eyes with him, and showed him the route back out. It took a little longer than it should have before he was certain Anakin had it, but that was to be expected, with the drug he could almost taste running through his Padawan's system. "Obi-Wan is out front being himself." 

Anakin came to his feet, steadied himself from the dizziness, wincing as all of his muscles tried to cramp at once. He had to reach inward, make the Force his ally. With that in place, he could move. "Lead on, Master," he said.

Qui-Gon nodded, searched out the minds between he, his Padawan, and the way out that wasn't the front door -- no one there, yet, thank the Force -- and went, making certain he was never more than a few strides from Anakin for the entire trek. 

Obi-Wan was actually finding the challenge of handling 'distraction' to be fulfilling. His assault was simple, targeted more on being disruptive than actual lethal combat, and he was thankful to have both bonds in his mind surging with the pair that meant family. They were moving, getting free of this place, and under their own power. That alone made him quite able to handle whatever was thrown his way as he deflected blaster fire into the building rather than at the people.

He and Anakin were almost to the other set of doors he'd seen when he felt someone racing to get ahead of them, and he muttered a quiet profanity he'd borrowed from his Padawan some time back. He'd hoped to get out without having to kill or harm anyone else, but that seemed unlikely now. 

However, only one was moving, and he already knew they were there. Not actually a problem. "Company ahead, Anakin," he said, to explain the curse. 

"I don't suppose me being charming will help?" Anakin quipped, but he pulled the Force close, ready to use it to defend himself and his Master.

The man coming with a heavy gun was still not sure how he'd drawn the short straw for handling the Jedi inside. He just knew if he failed, he was dead, either by Jedi hands or his Lord's. As he came around the corner, he opened fire, not even aiming so much as laying down rapid shots in hopes of a good hit.

"Apparently not," Qui-Gon replied, shaking his head at his impossible brat of a student even as he focused on deflecting that heavy fire. With that many bolts, that fast, he had to sink deeper yet into the Force to manage them, and each deflected shot put a hole in the walls or ceiling around them. //Any chance you can knock him off balance, Ani?// 

Anakin was already on that track, his eyes narrowing as all of his anger at being captured, at being drugged senseless, at losing his connection to the Force welled up to where he could use it, and he threw that at the gunner.

The result was worse than a normal Force push, as the gunner was slammed back, his arms with the heavy gun pushed back into his own torso, the gun slamming hard enough into the armor to make an audible crack in the plastoid. It left the man down, a choked cry of pain escaping him from bones that had given way under the impact.

Anakin froze for just a moment, his breathing ragged, as he realized just how violently he had done what was asked, fear creeping in instantly alongside regret.

//Later, Ani, later,// Qui-Gon told him, soft and soothing, as he crossed the distance between them and their attacker and turned the weapon into a trio of pieces, //away now, my dear one. Come on.// 

Anakin moved numbly, following his Master swiftly now he had been told to. That… was inexcusable. He needed to remember to rein his emotions in better. 

The rest of the way was clear, and the defenders dealing with Obi-Wan were, despite him being one man, quite pinned down by effective use of deflected shots tearing up the front of the residence. Sensing Qui-Gon and Anakin near to escape, the Knight even rushed the nearest one, drawing all of their attentions to his supposedly vulnerable open position. 

That he masterfully managed his defense from there was one more testimony to his skill with a lightsaber.

Qui-Gon reached the door he'd intended, forced it open, and got his Padawan outside, back into open air, then headed towards the speeder he'd left not terribly far away. The numb feeling in Anakin's mind was more than slightly unsettling, but he had felt that tide of fury, and the fear after. He knew why Anakin felt so numb, and as he'd said, they would deal with that later. Once they were safe, once the Healers had checked thoroughly for any poisons or implants, once Obi-Wan was back with them. 

He keyed the code for the cockpit bubble from five strides away and slowed a little to ensure Anakin got in first. 

Anakin did… and he immediately moved to the pilot's position, focusing on that as a balm against what he had done. He was more than able to pilot, no matter that his muscles were trying to cramp again. 

Obi-Wan felt more than anything else that they were in a vehicle, ready to make good their escape. He deflected one more shot, then tossed his last explosive, a low-powered concussive, that let him escape to his speeder. Anakin was safe, if numb and disoriented to a small degree. Qui-Gon felt safe. It was time to regroup, back at the Temple, and see what could be done now about their Sith problem.

+++++

Obi-Wan was not given to pacing. He sat calmly in the waiting area as Anakin was checked over by the healers, Qui-Gon in with their Padawan. That Qui-Gon had flared dangerously hot in the bond was disturbing, but he had not wanted to intrude. 

Anakin was walking on his own, with Qui-Gon quite close as they did emerge, and Obi-Wan stood, shifting to settle the armor he was still in.

"I do feel better, Master," Anakin was saying, trying to reassure the elder man. He did not know why the drug used on him had caused such a flare of anger in their bond. "I was only paralyzed once; the second drug was just a sedative."

 _Paralyzed?_ Obi-Wan's mind flicked back, to when he was sixteen, and one of the worst missions he'd gone on with Qui-Gon had resulted in Tahl's death. No wonder the man was so upset, especially if the drug was the same one.

"I am relieved you are not permanently harmed," Obi-Wan said, to give his partner time to wrestle the emotions down.

Qui-Gon's hand settled on his Padawan's shoulder, more for his own comfort than Anakin's, as he said softly, "I know you do, Ani. I can sense that. 

"And you're going to be fine. Obi-Wan, are we expected in Council immediately? Or are they occupied with my other success of the day?" Let the answer be the second, he asked the Force, knowing he was in no condition to deal with the Masters of the Council. Not right now.

"We are reprieved for the time being, Qui-Gon. I wish to hear all about what you found, while we get Ani to our quarters and fed," Obi-Wan told him.

"Don't need to be fussed over," Anakin said, shaking his head. 

"You completely will be fussed over," Obi-Wan shot back. "We were worried!"

"Hush, Anakin," Qui-Gon said, managing to keep his voice more gentle than he really felt when his Padawan was being -- entirely too much like him. "You may not need it, but we do." 

Hearing the name of that poison again, knowing it had run in Anakin's veins... he needed to have Anakin close, have his beloved close, and _not_ deal with anyone else for a time. 

Anakin gave up; he was not bucking both of them united. When they got back to their quarters, he sighed in relief, and headed straight for the 'fresher to get clean. Obi-Wan waited until he'd set his course, then just moved to be closer to Qui-Gon.

Qui-Gon leaned against him for a moment, growled softly as a piece of the armor bit into his side, and nudged him with shoulder and hip to go and get out of that. "I'll start water for tea and something to eat while you change," he said, mostly so that Obi-Wan would know he was going to keep himself occupied while they waited for Anakin to be settled again. 

He snorted at himself. Anakin was probably more settled than they were. 

Obi-Wan nodded and went to shed the armor; he'd stow it in his quarters later, but he had more important things to do now. Once he'd gotten that off, he went to their bedroom and changed into a softer tunic and loose leggings, rubbing at his face where the cosmetic beard was itching. He didn't want to take the time to get rid of it yet, so he walked back out to join Qui-Gon.

His ears said Anakin was still in the 'fresher, so he settled at his place at the table. "Talk, or not?" he asked, rather than press if Qui-Gon needed more time to process.

Qui-Gon shook his head, leaving the food to tend itself while he came to wrap his arms down around his beloved's shoulders, holding him in silence for several long moments. Obi-Wan was perfectly fine, Anakin -- Anakin was right here, and well -- and he had put Mas Amedda into the hands of the Masters of the Council currently on planet hours ago. "It can all wait for Anakin to join us.

"He has _all_ of your impertinence, my own." 

"Oh really? I'll have to up the ante, then," Obi-Wan said warmly, but he put one hand up to cover an arm around him, closing his eyes. "What did he do to inspire that comment?"

"Informed me, when I cut the suppression collar loose, that he'd thought it would be a few years yet before he heard my lightsaber that close to his ear," Qui-Gon answered, flexing his arm under that touch as his fingers tightened. 

"Cheeky." Obi-Wan smiled up at his love. "Must take it from you."

Qui-Gon snorted disbelief at that comment, saying, "Hardly," before he went quiet again, dipping down to lay a kiss on Obi-Wan's forehead, grip tightening on his sides. Impertinent pair of brats, he had in his students... and he would not trade either of them for the entirety of the galaxy. Not that he wanted it. What would he -- what would anyone with any vestige of sense -- want with so much responsibility? 

The water in the 'fresher cut off, and it wasn't much longer before Anakin came out in loose clothing similar to Obi-Wan's and joined them at the table. Obi-Wan reached out and laid his other hand on his little brother's forearm.

"Did you empty the water tanks?" he teased.

"No, I didn't want to have to smell you all afternoon," Anakin shot back, managing a semblance of his normal teasing to start putting this behind him.

Qui-Gon snorted in amusement, glad to hear his Padawan able to joke, hear his voice something like normally relaxed and entertained, and let go of Obi-Wan with one arm to reach for Anakin with that hand, settling his fingers around his shoulder to hold on. He could sense Anakin in the Force again, of course, his Padawan the beacon of the life and energy and presence he always was, but that was one thing, and touch was entirely another. 

Anakin gave his Master a small smile, before settling into his seat more firmly. "So if we're fussing over me, can I at least be fed?"

That made Obi-Wan laugh, full and long, because… Anakin was Anakin. Everything could have been more horrible, but it was done now. They could move on.

"Of course, Ani," Qui-Gon answered, and turned back towards the counter-top prep station to start dishing out plates. 

Obi-Wan held back his questions and commentary until they had all half-demolished their plates, realizing he was nearly as hungry as Anakin was. Then again, he'd been getting by with nutri-bars while he tried to determine how and who had carried out the assassinations of the various leaders for peace.

Qui-Gon had been far less hungry than either of them -- he'd had more opportunity to eat, though it had had very little taste -- and so was done by the time Obi-Wan looked up, feeling attentive to the wider world, and he cocked a brow at him. Anakin had been right here, stable and safe and in good humor, with them for long enough that he was starting to have a handle on his need to just drag his Padawan against his chest and not let go for the next several hours. 

Anakin would probably let him, but he didn't have to, now. 

"So, I'll start by asking how you beat me there," Obi-Wan said, sitting back to sip his tea for a bit. Anakin looked from one to the other, startled, to hear they had arrived separately. "Not that I was displeased, and I half-expected it when I could not raise you on your comm to tell you what I'd learned."

"I had a sudden flash of inspiration," Qui-Gon replied, feeling his mouth curving in a slow, sharp-edged smile, "and acted on it. I confronted the Senate Vice Chair." 

Anakin and Obi-Wan gave him equal stares of incredulity, but Obi-Wan was the first to shake his head. "Of course you did," he said. "Just waltzed right in and 'negotiated' him into cooperating! What if Palpatine had had the man's office guarded by others? Or tapped, so that he could know? You could have been killed! But no, you merrily follow a hunch, likely without telling anyone where you were going, without regard to your safety!"

"I would have, and you would have as well," Anakin shot back to that, just to get Obi-Wan down off the ceiling of his sudden, needless worry.

Qui-Gon flashed a quick moment's smile at his Padawan for the assistance, before he cast his eyes affectionately at his beloved. "Ani's right, you know. You'd have done exactly the same thing. As to having the office guarded..." he shrugged slightly. "Against a Jedi, really? 

"I would have been delighted to have so much proof of guilt, actually. And Anakin's taught me a few things about how to locate listening devices. I had time, before he left the Chambers for his office. Really, my own. Have a little faith." 

"I do, in your ability to worry us!" Obi-Wan told him. He then pointedly calmed himself down and raised an eyebrow. "Is he going to provide proof of Palpatine's corruption?"

"Or is everything hinged on me knowing something?" Anakin asked, a cold fear in his stomach, because he did not know if the Chancellor had ever been close, given his loss of Force and being kept blindfolded. "I remember hearing a Muun and … someone with an accent that was kind of familiar. But nothing about _him_ at all."

"No, no, Ani, shh," Qui-Gon replied, soft and reassuring, reaching for his Padawan's hand to squeeze it gently. "He is -- or was when I left him -- telling Master Kolar and Master Shaak Ti everything he knows. 

"Which is a _very_ considerable amount. But first he told me where to find you." 

"Very good for his continued health." Obi-Wan felt Anakin's shock over him being the one to say it, but didn't answer that. "Please tell me they have at least a few Senators already informed? Or is this being handled strictly by the Order because it is a Sith?"

"I did suggest that they summon trustworthy members of the Senate," Qui-Gon replied, "and Vice Chair Amedda was quick to supply names of those **not** in Palpatine's clutches. If they listened to me is another matter." 

"Hopefully your habit of being argumentative didn't lead to anyone saying 'no, let's not' out of spite," Obi-Wan agreed.

"So if you didn't know about that, how did you get there?" Anakin asked, spearing a piece of something bright and orange with a smoky flavor from his plate. He focused fully on Obi-Wan, his eyes showing his curiosity.

"Qui-Gon had discovered the dart that killed the aide used to lure you to danger was of Kaminoan origin. I followed up on the idea it was the elusive pattern behind our friends there," Obi-Wan said. "He's reasonable… even if it meant letting him get away with the aide's murder… for credits and a chance to get away from here before things explode."

Anakin's face lightened suddenly. "Yes! That's why the voice sounded familiar!"

Qui-Gon rumbled, low in his throat, at that thought, but... at least the man _had_ been reasonable. "Sloppy of them to leave you in the same place he delivered you, Ani, but I certainly won't protest. 

"About _time_ one of these labyrinthine plots bit that -- Sith," he decided after a moment that the title was the only insult necessary, "as badly as he's damaged us." 

"Not sure if I was there at that time, Master. I was sedated right after; could have been moved. Because I had a hood on there, and only the blindfold when you got to me," Anakin pointed out.

"Or you came conscious at the delivery, before they had settled you where they wanted you in that building," Obi-Wan said. "Either way, Jango Fett told me the address, and I got there a bit behind our Master."

Qui-Gon shrugged slightly, agreeing with Obi-Wan's assessment. But that Jango had known the location pointed to them having not moved Anakin after. Or the bounty hunter had tracked the transport, for reasons known only to himself. "Ani... you're certain you're all right?" 

Anakin nodded. "Physically a little weak, Master, but nothing that's not improving," he answered. "Annoyed I couldn't weed out the general danger to be able to feel the threat to myself. Relieved you both came when you did.

"And really upset that I lost control. But I don't think I could have helped it, and I just have to work on being able to maintain my control no matter what my condition is," he finished, admitting the only part of it still bothering him.

Obi-Wan made a quiet noise, curious, even as he recalled the flare along the bond to Anakin that had then sharply muted. He hadn't been able to really explore it; combat had needed his full attention.

Qui-Gon reached and laid his hand on Anakin's hand, trying to soothe through the touch. "You didn't lash out _with_ your anger, this time, Ani, which is already better than you did during that bombing... and under nearly as much stress. 

"It did seem to give you more strength than you intended to use, however." 

Anakin nodded slowly. He then looked at Obi-Wan. "A guard came around the corner, heavy blaster. Qui-Gon handled the shots… and I pushed the man. Hard enough to break bones and crack the armor." He breathed out slowly. "I didn't meant to push that hard."

"Of course not. But control after a collar, after a stressful situation? Is often difficult," Obi-Wan said. "That you did not mean to, that you regret it, says much for your growing ability to handle your emotional reactions."

Qui-Gon nodded, watching Anakin's face as he thought and listened, squeezing his fingers lightly, still trying to restrain his need to keep Anakin close, to feel his heart and lungs strong and working. He would be fine, it took more than a single dose, or even two, for the toxins to become fatal. 

"Master, please stop worrying," Anakin said with a quite pulse of embarrassment to be the cause of Qui-Gon's low-level unease in the bond.

"You can't ask that of him right now, Ani," Obi-Wan said, voice sincerely apologetic but also soft with memory. "The drug they used on you… is fatal, in higher concentrations, as we learned directly."

"Oh." Anakin pushed away from his plate then, and moved to his Master's space, wrapping his arms around the elder man's neck and holding on. "I didn't know… I'm okay. Really, I am."

Qui-Gon gathered him in, arms wrapping low around his waist, taking a slow, deep breath. "I know, Ani... I know. And I promise, I will get myself under control -- and stop embarrassing you -- once I can meditate for a while. 

"But that drug... It took my Tahl from me -- Bant's Master from her; pushed me near to Falling, and that it has resurfaced being used on _you_... I am shaken." 

"I understand, Master. I do. And all of this… mess, it just keeps tangling up on us," Anakin said, wrapping into the Force bond between them with supportive love. This man was so much his father; he could not let him flounder in hard emotions.

He did note that tone around Tahl's name, one he'd heard several times before, had come out in the same tone that Qui-Gon said Obi-Wan's name, and that was one more tiny understanding for him. How hard had it been on Obi-Wan to nurse their Master past a grief that strong, while harboring strong feelings of his own?

Obi-Wan was grateful that Anakin was so demonstrative, that his explanation had prompted the hugging. The Code demanded that things like this, attachment and hard memories alike, be given to the Force.

It was one of the things Obi-Wan most questioned, now that he'd been tempered by walking at Qui-Gon's side for years now as an equal.

Anakin poured support to him, support and that boundless, steadying love that was so much a part of Anakin, and Qui-Gon laid his cheek against his short-cropped hair and just held on, breathing. "Yes," he agreed, with the understanding he could feel from Anakin, "I did not make life easy on our Obi-Wan, those years. 

"But he bore with me despite it all. ...and oh, you have said a mouthful of truth in that 'tangling up on us'. I don't know what decided we needed to be the cast of some galactic holo-drama, but I could do without it. As I am very sure you could, as well." 

Anakin laughed, bright and quick and truly amused. "It is our burden to bear. Almost makes you wish some other junk shop had been available, maybe?" he teased, meaning none of it. He was where he was meant to be, and with the one who had been meant to find him.

"If I have to be in a holo-drama, can I request a stunt double?" Obi-Wan asked cheekily.

"Never that, Ani," Qui-Gon replied, though Anakin's blatant teasing actually had him smiling, had a quiet laugh in his throat that turned more full when Obi-Wan spoke up. " _You_? Why should you get the double, my own?" 

"To preserve my strength for other things, of course," Obi-Wan said, a flash of teasing heat in his eyes. Anakin groaned, shaking his head, even as Qui-Gon started laughing.

"Really?!"

+++++

The meeting with the Council proved to be a formality; Plo Koon asked questions on each part of the abduction, the investigation, and the rescue, before suggesting the trio stay close to the Temple grounds for the next several days.

Other Jedi were filtering in already, having been in systems close enough to answer an unprecedented recall sent out not through comms, but by using Master or Knight bonds to former Padawans. The implication was clear to the three humans; the Temple was preparing for defense. 

"Master Jinn," Plo Koon said, coming up now in the cafeteria, wearing the garb he preferred for sparring in the salle. "The command of the Temple is offered to you," he said formally, voice full of faith in the elder human. "I know you have not sat on the Council, but I and Mace are in agreement that you can best situate the defenses, should we who are going to contend with the Sith fail, or he has other plans in place. Kina Ha and Jocasta Nu are seeing to moving all the younglings and babies into the Archives, to be sealed with supplies, as it is the most defensible part of the Temple. 

"You would have all of the Knights, Padawans, Masters and senior Initiates at your command," Plo Koon finished. "Will you do this, and hold hope it is not needed?"

Qui-Gon stood stock-still for a few moments, taking a deep breath, the weight of that trust and the enormity of the task settling on his shoulders, before he bowed in return. "It would be my honor, Master Koon, to defend the Temple if it is necessary. I shall." 

Plo Koon inclined his head then, letting his relief flare in the Force, so Qui-Gon knew he had been Plo's only real choice for this command. 

"We mean to capture; we have little faith that it will happen. The Senate is giving us a little headway to get to the man, and then they will be calling a formal emergency session." The current Master of the Council kept his voice low, but more out of respect for those that might be trying to forget the tension in the air. The entire Temple either knew, or suspected, things were about to go in explosive directions. "Our fear was that if they called the session before we intercepted Sidious that they would be at risk."

He stepped back to go to his task then, leaving Qui-Gon to see to his new responsibilities. "May the Force be with us all," he added, going to join Depa, Kit, Mace, and Yoda, all of whom were dressed in their sparring clothes, save Yoda, who was in his robe as always.

"Indeed, Master," Qui-Gon agreed, dipping a deep bow to the gathered Masters and asking the Force to bring them all home again. Seeing Kit going worried him, after Anakin's vision... but forewarned was forearmed, and they knew they must fight hard. 

//Come home, my Masters,// he thought, and turned to go about his new work. 

Obi-Wan and Anakin were at his side before he even got halfway down the corridor from the cafeteria, reacting to the tension in the Temple more than knowing he'd been tapped for a task. 

"Master?" Anakin asked, as he did get in sight of Qui-Gon and could read more of the man's demeanor. "What is it?"

"What can we do?" Obi-Wan asked him. That he was still here, not on that team of Masters, spoke to caution in Plo's plan. Obi-Wan was an acknowledged master of the lightsaber, but only a Knight.

"They're going after Sidious," Qui-Gon answered Anakin first, "and I am to command defenses of the Temple, should there be an assault here during the attempt to capture him, or after. So I need your eyes and knowledge, both of you.

"They're already moving the younglings and infants into the Archives. Come on, we need a display of the Temple to plan from." 

"That explains why so many Knights were coming up from the low entrances," Obi-Wan answered, before setting his path for the strategy room with its holo displays. "Making it home without being seen."

"Who is going?" Anakin asked, his voice tight as he worried for the fate of the Masters. Sidious had been so deadly in his visions, and he had actually come to respect most of the Masters. They had been changing, slowly, in response to the questioning Anakin had innocently begun in their ranks, via Qui-Gon and Mace.

Qui-Gon answered as they moved at a swift walk, "Masters Billaba, Koon, Windu, Fisto, and Master Yoda, Ani... and I have no doubt Kit remembers most clearly what you told him, dear one. 

"We must tend our duty, and let them see to theirs." 

"I know," Anakin answered, smoothing his mind away from the fear. This Temple was one of his homes, and he would defend it no matter what. That team of Masters were powerful, and he would place his faith in them.

"Mace and Depa have been practicing using the Master/Padawan bond in the salle," Obi-Wan pointed out. "It's been weeks since anyone could defeat the pair of them working together," he added, amused because Depa had been a Master herself for so long. "Now, on to defenses… if the younglings and babies are in the archive, can I suggest moving the Initiates just outside it, and stress that they must stay in threes or fours, in case something should get that deep?"

Anakin's protective flare spoke volumes as to his opinion on that possibility.

"I want at least four Knights, one to each direction, in that last ring," Qui-Gon agreed, "but that was my thought as well." 

Keep the Initiates out of it as long as possible, but with a task that truly was important. The younglings were their future, after all. He flicked his hand over Anakin's hair, light, and kept on. 

Anakin just hoped he wasn't relegated down that low, but Obi-Wan's comment about Depa and Mace stuck with him; surely Padawans would fight alongside their Masters, since that was where the bonds served them best? He did appreciate the state of the art tech around him as they entered the strategy room, so rarely used for planning true battle.

"I was thinking the least injured of those in the healers' wing would provide that defensive line… it's in a deeper part of the Temple and not as easy to move them to the Archives," Obi-Wan offered, even as he keyed a list of all available personnel onto a display. Touching names, he was able to move them into place for suggested defensive positions as Qui-Gon had the Temple map up now. His choices on the Knights to defend the Archives, he did not expect to be debated, but for the rest, especially the Masters available to them, he waited for Qui-Gon's thoughts on the matter.

Qui-Gon looked at the names -- some he knew well, some he had never met -- and considered what he knew of them, sighing at the sheer openness of the Temple, not for the first time. It was a maze in some ways, which could be useful, but a fortress, it was not. However, they could and would do this, if it came to battle here. 

+++++

Later, everyone in the Temple would know just when the Masters reached Darth Sidious. While Coruscant could occasionally have monstrous storms due to imbalance in the weather satellites, there was nothing (and everything, all at once) natural about the one that came to bear in their senses.

The Force touched everything, connecting it, so that was the natural part. The unnatural was in the fact that every single Force user on the planet or in close orbit was suddenly aware of the horrific clash of Dark and Light.

That pressure was distracting enough, but Anakin, who had been helping guard the main doors, became the focus for Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon by dropping to the floor with a small cry that cut off as unconsciousness hit.

Qui-Gon was half the distance across the Temple away, now able to ask Master Tiin to boost his mental 'voice' to the Jedi on the grounds, reaching one after another to tell them where he needed them, when he felt Anakin fall and was knocked out of his link with the Ikotchi Master. Reaching for his Padawan gained him only the quiet of unconsciousness, and he caught hold of his bond to Obi-Wan instead. //My own?!// 

//Moving!// came back to him, along with an impression of athletic dodges and leaps over things and people separating Obi-Wan from Anakin. He was nowhere near as far away; he'd chosen a corridor that had proven vital in a previous Temple invasion, while damning their pasts for even remembering that.

Master Xil Nottar had been the closest of rank to where Anakin was, and was just kneeling beside the young man when Obi-Wan saw them. Anakin appeared to be having small convulsions or spasms, and he was breathing hard as the storm intensified outside.

"Don't," Qui-Gon warned Master Tiin, gathering some vestige of his composure (not that that was easy, with the Living, Unifying, and Dark Sides of the Force screaming conflict through the world), "say a word. We don't have time for that debate right now.

"Who hadn't we reached that needs to be in motion?" 

Master Tiin inclined his head. "That debate is best saved for peace," the man agreed. He then reached to try and reestablish the connection to amplify Qui-Gon's commands to those in the Temple, admiring that the man meant to do his duty despite the strong Attachment.

"He fell as the first crack in the Force made itself known in the lightning," Xil Nottar told Obi-Wan. "I could see, being just over in that corner of the open floor," he explained. His hands gently moved the Padawan onto his side while Obi-Wan knelt in front of him.

A keening noise came from Anakin's throat, making Obi-Wan tense, before another series of spasms gripped his little brother's body.

"I'm here, Anakin," Obi-Wan said, even as he reached to their shared bond, to try and help Anakin overcome whatever this was. "Master, please shift a Knight to my assigned location, and I will remain here, with him," he added.

"Of course, Knight Kenobi, though I recommend pulling him further into the shadows of the walls," Xil said, before rising and going to see to rearranging the defense as needed.

Qui-Gon pushed himself to the work, to what had to be done, quieting the panic he felt for Anakin's sudden collapse -- Obi-Wan was with him, his partner would take care of him -- in finishing arranging the Temple's defense. He dropped out of the link with Master Tiin with much greater ease, once that was done, and used the comlink strapped around his wrist to touch base with the Knights he'd chosen to keep watch from the Towers. 

So far, it seemed, they saw nothing unusual moving towards them... though they were terribly unsettled at the roiling of the Force, and each needed several moments of his time. 

++++

There was so much light all around him. Five smaller pieces broke away to go after the darkness so black that the light blurred away from it. The darkness, he knew, was more than the sum of the five lights, for it equaled -- was required to equal? -- the whole of the light they had come from. 

~Balance.~

Anakin's mind slipped into splinters of understanding and confusion, as the Light and the Dark came to do battle.

++++

Obi-Wan couldn't find a solid piece of Anakin's mind to latch onto, and had to resort to just forcing the bond between them toward something akin to a healing trance, hoping to protect Anakin from the growing muscle tremors. It did back the physical symptoms off, but that … broken chaos inside his little brother was terrifying him.

So far there was still nothing advancing on the Temple... which meant that Qui-Gon could take a few moments to reach for his partner, asking //How is he?//, because he could still feel nothing from Anakin but the simplest sense that he lived. 

//I can't reach _him_ , not a true sense of him. But I have the spasms stopped, and we are out of sight of the door now. Master Nottar took command of the situation here on the main level.// Obi-Wan had his hand tangled in Anakin's tunic, while his other remained free for the lightsaber he carried.

//Spasms?// Qui-Gon questioned, then shook his head across the bond, //no, not now. I know you'll take care of him, my own.// 

//I have him. Master Nottar said he collapsed with the first stroke of lightning. Could he be reacting to the battle, if that's what is causing this?// Obi-Wan asked, having seen the spasms and light convulsions had always matched a lightning flash from outside.

//Possibly,// Qui-Gon agreed, his chest clenching at that thought, concern raking through him... but Obi-Wan had him, and he had obligations. 

"Master Jinn!" the comm link chirped, "movement, toward us, fast! I don't recognize -- no. Red lightsabers, in the front. Possibly droids behind them? They're wearing something, but I think I see metal?" 

"My side, too, Master Jinn!" a second voice called as soon as the channel was clear. 

Master Tiin took the impressions of what could be seen, heard as the other two major approaches only had droids coming, and sank deep into his particular gift to defend the Jedi Temple, the home of the Order, with all of their knowledge, and the future that was guarded within the Archives.

Down there, ever since the storm had begun, flicking into sensitive minds though it could not be heard or seen, Kina Ha had begun a simple chant with the younglings, focusing them on her words, helping them bring their protective abilities into a network of the Force, helping block out the worst of it so the babies would settle. Her every fiber of being was tied up in what she could do for the younglings, trusting those warriors above to make their stand count.

Obi-Wan heard that call of hostilities, and was torn between staying with Anakin, to protect his mind as best he could, and joining the fight. With a deep breath, he took the spare lightsaber Anakin had acquired, tucking Anakin in the shadows before going to meet the threat to their home. 

//He's as safe as I can make him, Master, but I cannot stand by,// he sent to Qui-Gon, settling the second hilt in his off hand as he took up his own, ready to fall into the discipline of Jar'kai for this fight.

//I would never ask you to, beloved,// Qui-Gon replied, brushing his faith and understanding along their bond as he closed his eyes, letting Master Tiin see through the many sets of eyes looking at the incoming opponents... and with Master Tiin's aid, he found that the battle meditation of Nomi Sunrider came to him easily. With the faith of the Jedi all around him making it easy to do so, he sank into each of their minds. 

//Mother Talzin!// Obi-Wan told him -- told them all, in a moment, as he recognized a white-painted face in red robes that sang as she ran -- even as Eeth Koth added //Nightbrothers!// 

What those words meant flowed to each mind in the Temple's defenses, and while some quailed, Qui-Gon steadied them. Those who judged their skills poorly were to leave the Dark Force users to the Masters and Knights strongest with the lightsaber and deal with the mass of motley, hulking droids lumbering towards the Temple instead. 

This was a fight they could win, for they had each other.

On his side of the battle, Eeth Koth made peace with his people's past, the Fall of some of their Kin, and prepared to battle this Nightbrother taking the lead of the attack he faced. With all of his calm marshalled to his center, the Master rushed in and tangled the blade of the Zabrak with yellow and brown markings.

Obi-Wan, pushing thoughts of Reeft's recent death and their suffering long ago both behind him forged into the fight against the Nightsister's leader. He had come far from the inexperienced Knight on his first mission far from his Master's side. The blades he carried were a part of him, with only the thought of defense, not vengeance, to guide this battle.

There were more fights than that, Mother Talzin had not come alone, there were other singing women scattered among the droids, and some of those were assassin-builds, sneaky, fast, and dangerous. Qui-Gon lent his skill to a young Wookiee Knight as she tangled with one, supported a human Padawan the next moment, and all the while he gave them all of his faith and certainty. 

Blood and hydraulic fluids alike ran on the Temple steps, the cacophony of lightsabers and blaster bolts rang through the air, and Qui-Gon mourned as Eeth Koth took the Nightbrother into death with him. Xil Nottar lost a hand crossing blades with a Nightsister, but a Knight was there to block the next sweep of her lightsaber, and a deep slash across her ribs sent her running. 

The Healers, too, were in motion in the fray, pulling the injured away with bodies or Force to spirit them into the bacta tanks or other life support -- 

\-- and each of them knew, as suddenly and terribly as Qui-Gon did, that Master Yoda was dying. 

++++

Inside the Temple, Anakin, sheltered by the shadows and the walls, cried out as the battle inside his mind raged, the lights being subsumed by the dark. Two of the lights had dimmed, while two blazed with colors shot through that spoke of a coming dark.

And then the fifth opened itself to the fullness of the light, drawing more into itself than it was made for, and threw itself at the dark.

Anakin screamed, even as he was shunted out of the many splinters he'd become to a whole, complete being, one who knew the truth.

Only Balance could keep them from fighting this battle over and over.

++++

Losing their revered elder, one who had taught so many, either as younglings or in advanced classes, had a distinct effect on the defense of the Temple. The storm had exploded in furious lightning and pounding rain… and stopped as suddenly, but the defenders didn't notice. 

They would lose no more wisdom, no more skill, than they absolutely had to this night. The Nightbrothers and Nightsisters as well as the droids were met with newly invigorated skill, as sharply learned lessons enforced by a stick rapped on their shins came to the fore --

\-- and the living attackers broke free of their fights and ran in the next moments, disappearing with tricks of the Force that were as useful in the thousand levels of city as in the mountains. That left only the droids... and every defender of the Temple was a match for those, now. Qui-Gon gently slipped from their minds, feeling as though he had taken each wound himself, and slumped against the display base, grief wracking through him at knowing Yoda was gone. 

Master Tiin closed his own eyes, a moment of memorial for the Jedi who had died this night, a moment of hope for those who lived and would need time to heal. "You were admirable, Master Jinn," he said. "I would gladly take you on as my student in this." That Jinn had used emotions as fuel… that ruffled his concept of proper, but times were changing.

"Thank you, Master," Qui-Gon replied, bowing to him as much as he could from where he was slumped, stunned at the praise from one of the most traditional masters... and pleased. "I think there is yet a need for it... much as I could wish otherwise.

"Can you tell... do the other Masters live?" 

Master Tiin reached; he could touch the members of the Council like breathing, it seemed, for he had worked so long with them. There was pain, even a touch of fear… but yes. Four minds, reaching back along his.

"The healers need to have tanks for Masters Windu and Koon," he said. "If you are able to be alone, I should go offer my aid down there."

"I am well," Qui-Gon assured him, though his head felt as though an avalanche had tumbled through it, "and I am sure that they do need you. Go, my friend." 

He had will enough for one more reach, though. //Beloved?// 

++++

Below, Obi-Wan stumbled once as the battle faded, then turned to go find Anakin… only to see he had taken someone's lightsaber and joined them in the final push to get rid of the droids. He started toward Anakin, but the Padawan moved faster, sliding an arm around his waist.

"Arm up over my shoulders, Obi-Wan; you're injured," Anakin scolded, his eyes bright with… fever? Knowledge? Something lurked there, Obi-Wan realized, even as he thought Anakin was mad for thinking he was hurt bad enough to need assistance.

Then his leg felt like it was on fire, and he looked down to see the wound he had never felt penetrate his defenses.

"Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh'," Anakin replied, scolding him with the repetition, bracing his brother before that leg could go out from under him. "Come on." 

He had to talk to Master Qui-Gon before the surety faded... but Obi-Wan first. 

Obi-Wan let Anakin guide him, looking for who was taking charge now… to be certain it was all going to be fine… and he saw Master Unduli striding down from having held a balcony from intrusion by the few flying models. She was just the right mixture of practical and calm to handle the Knights and senior Padawans who were not so injured as to need the healers.

"You worry even though you're not a Master yet, about how to make it all get done," Anakin said, half-amused by Obi-Wan's distraction. "You'll make a good Master."

"Not for a long time yet, Ani," Obi-Wan promised him.

//I'm fine. Ani has me,// Obi-Wan sent, not without some amusement, as the fight had begun the other way around. //On our way to the healers for me.// That he added because he knew Qui-Gon would feel the fiery red pain in his thigh.

//I'll join you there,// Qui-Gon replied, //...eventually.// 

The comm board was lighting up with incoming, priority messages on half a dozen bands, and he could see approaching Security skimmers, as well. Apparently, with the Sith dead, the normal sense of order was coming back to people. 

That was just as well as he pushed the battle fatigue away to take charge… until someone with more sense or seniority relieved him.


End file.
